Wonderland, The Winter Edition
by JennaBennett
Summary: Christmas with the Castle's. A various collection of one shots centred on our favourite duo in the midst of the holiday season.
1. Chapter 1

_Wonderland, The Winter Edition._

**AN: I live in Australia which essentially means I've never had a real winter, let alone one over the Christmas season. That said, I'm headed to Europe this December and consequently I'm so many levels of excited it's beyond ridiculous. In honour of my overwhelming enthusiasm for the wintery Christmas period I shall be adding numerous Christmas themed one shots to this over the coming weeks. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas! (It's not too soon, right?) **

Kate Beckett links ice-skating with her mother. More so since she died. Before then it was merely a memory connected to Christmas and softly falling snow. Now it's about so much more. It's about precious quality time. It's about love. It's one of the many activities that she now associates with parenting, family and cherishing the ones you hold dear.

That's probably why she's here for the first time in years, Castle's gloved hand clasped with determined tightness around her own, palms lopsidedly embracing. Her cheeks are tinged pink with cold and the emotion of it all. Her are lips frozen in an exuberant smile of overwhelming contentment. She should be shivering, gliding through the winter air, her exposed skin numb, yet the warmth of the memories they are forming is radiating from within. The heat of Castle's gaze on her only adding to the sensation.

A man skates haphazardly by them, jolting her from her thoughts, his movements jerky and lacking the careful coordination of a practised skater.

"Definitely more coordinated than him," Castle nudges her, nodding in the man's direction, a soft, yet proud smile following his words.

"Yes," Beckett nods, a tinkling laugh rolling off her tongue, the inner joy taking any opportunity to escape out into the world. Despite the murder and mayhem of everyday life, tonight the world seems like a spectacular place. The combination of glittering fairy lights and small flakes of snow dot the night sky with a mesmerising glow. Schools of happy, beaming New Yorkers line the ice rink filling the air with merry chatter and bouts of laughter. The mood is infectious. The holiday spirit spreading with all the proficiency of an incurable disease. Unstoppable and uncontainable. Beckett finds herself glad she's not at all immune to it. For years her mother's death provided the ultimate immunity, the joy of the season didn't even come close to reaching her. But now she is happily infected, like the rest of the city.

Little hands collide with the back of her legs and Castle grips her tighter in an attempt to steady her. She shoots him a quick, thankful smile. The warmth of her joy may not be enough to counteract the heady combination of _wet_ and cold. She certainly appreciates the support her husband provides.

"George!" the condescending sigh of the pouting seven year old almost has Beckett stifling a giggle. "I told you not to skate into Mommy. You almost knocked her over," miss seven adds, her tone superior and knowledgeable.

"Emma," Castle warns gently. "Speak nicely to your brother. Mommy's fine, no blood, no foul," he winks at their daughter. Her petite, pink nose scrunches up in response.

"Gross, Daddy." Castle beams at her, extending his free hand, coaxing her to his side. She takes it eagerly. Castle has a way of making all his girl's feel like Daddy's special princess. Emma has spent her life just as captivated by her father as Alexis has. Beckett has made no secret that she's always loved his fathering side. It's probably half of what won her over in the first place.

Her son is whimpering at her back. Evidently he took his sister's words seriously. She glances over her shoulder, her eyes meeting a mess of windblown brown hair.

"Sweetie," she murmurs gently, tugging her hand from Castle's to wrap her arms around the little figure teetering on the ice.

"I'm sorry, Mommy," he whispers, his piercing blue eyes meeting hers in sincerity.

"It's fine, baby," she croons. "I'd much rather you grab onto me than fall over on the hard ice." Her son hiccups a sob and nods in acceptance.

"Okay," he breathes, relief colouring his tone.

"Okay," she agrees. "Now you want to show me how this whole ice-skating thing is done?" she smiles. He beams up at her in response, his eyes crinkling in a perfect reflection of his father's. It sends Beckett's heart swelling with undeniable pride. This little creature and his sister are the ultimate culmination of her and Castle's love. Nothing can erase the place they fill in her heart.

George's movements are only slightly unsteady as he clasps his mother's hand tightly and tugs her along the ice. Emma glances back and pulls on her father's hand to wait for them. Castle wraps her hand in his once again as they skate up to them. Their little family linked, a chain across the ice. Their movements are slow, other skaters whizzing around them. Beckett doesn't notice them. She's lost in their little world of ice, broad grins and adoration. This is their winter wonderland.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This addition is a tad AU, set any time before season five… You know, because I'm all for the thrill of the chase… Also, I'm actually quite fond of this one… Reviews are always appreciated! **

The entrance of small shop was heavy with Christmas spirit. Carols trilled joyously in the background, colourful lights flickered and danced casting festive patterns on the walls. Bright decorations hung from the ceiling, the reds and greens vivid even in the shadows. The air was laced with the scent of Christmas, a distinct tang of freshly baked gingerbread and hot chocolate. However, a less than festive scent slowly permeated Beckett's consciousness as she led Castle deeper into the store. She chanced a glance over her shoulder and caught Castle's face scrunching up in distaste, even after the years he'd spent shadowing her, the decrepit smell of the deceased still resonated. It wasn't something you grew to like. It wasn't even something you really grew to comfortably tolerate. Yet, tolerate it they did. Some better than others. The perfect example of this, her Medical Examiner best friend. Lanie stepped around the victim to greet the pair of them.

"No ID on the vic. My preliminary findings put time of death between 4am and 10am this morning. I'll need to get her back to the lab to know for sure," she smiled wanly at her friend. "To be honest, I'm just hoping to solve this one _before_ Christmas, some of us have plans," she added, suppressing a slight yawn.

"Important plans. You're coming to my Christmas party tonight, right?" Castle chimed in eagerly.

"Castle," Beckett sighed, "your party is in an hour – I don't think any of us are going."

"Hmm. A challenge I like it. I bet we can solve it in," he wretched Beckett's wrist excitedly to his face to glance at her watch. She tried to ignore the tingles that thrilled through her arm at the movement. His fingertips burning a trail of goose bumps over her exposed skin… "forty-five minutes," he finished triumphantly with a beaming smile.

"It'll be a Christmas miracle," Beckett added dryly.

"Now, that's the spirit," Castle grinned, his eyes lighting up with mirth.

"Really perceptive of sarcasm tonight, Castle," she rolled her eyes languidly in his direction, watching his gaze intently follow the movement. A shiver trilled through her spine at the intensity of his gaze. She needed to look away or there would be absolutely no case solving, nor party happening… It was in the moments such as this one that her walls were laid bare before him, the equal measure of love and lust a catalyst for her walls crumbling to no more than dust and debris.

Lanie cleared her throat with a knowing smirk –

"You've only got about forty-two minutes now, Castle, and I'd really love to get back to the lab. So, if you don't mind getting back to the, uh, investigating, I can leave you kids alone…" Beckett levelled her friend with a heated glare in response to her words. Lanie merely shrugged and sent her an, "I'm clearly right so don't mess with me on this," look in return. Castle missed the exchange, his gaze now fixed on the victim behind Lanie.

"Well, I've figured out the ID," he muttered, his tone decidedly serious.

"What? Is it someone you know?" Beckett queried softly, crossing her arms to keep from reaching out to soothe him.

"It's someone we all know," Castle replied solemnly. Beckett fixed Lanie with a quizzical glance before moving around her friend, giving herself a clearer view of the victim's face.

"Uh… Who is it, Castle?" she managed after a second or two of incomprehension.

"It's Mrs Clause," he said gravely. Beckett was impressed that she managed the monumental task of suppressing the urge to slap him.

"Do you want to solve this case or not?" she grit out through clenched teeth – strangely enough the urge she'd had earlier under the ambiance of the flickering Christmas lights had diminished… completely.

"Oh my dear detective, no one wants to solve this case more than I," he smiled, humour spilling into his eyes, crinkling the edges of his gaze. She shook her head at him, words lost in the insanity that was dealing with childlike Richard Castle on a daily basis. "You can't deny that my less than generic theories have a way of paying off in the pursuit of justice," he added unabashedly. He earned himself another steady headshake in response.

Beckett quickly canvassed the scene. Lanie procured the body for the lab. Castle continued to spout fanciful theories about an elf-uprising. Beckett utilised the last remnants of her self-control to not shoot him. It was a trying twenty minutes.

"Castle," Beckett supplicated gently, "we're probably not going to solve this before your party. You should head back to the loft. You shouldn't skip out on your own celebration."

"It's hardly a celebration without you, detective," sincerity rang through his every word, Beckett would have blushed if she wasn't so attuned to the nuances of their partnership, his ability to unashamedly compliment her with increasing regularity. "Besides, we still have twenty minutes left," his lips curved upwards in an impish grin. She found she didn't have the ability to refuse that face.

"Twenty minutes," she echoed softly. "Right." And just maybe he would be…

Eighteen minutes passed with no headway.

"Castle," she entreated softly, "you need to go to _your_ party."

"Still have two minutes," he shot back, not even glancing up at her words, eyes remaining fixed on the phone in his hands. She sighed, pointedly…

Mere seconds passed and he exhaled a gleeful breath.

"Got a lead, Beckett. The victim was at a warehouse this morning. I tracked the Christmas hat she was wearing, it's handcrafted and unique. She picked it up this morning," he flashed the address excitedly in her face.

"Great. I'll go check it out. You go to your party. I'll try stop by later," she nodded at the door. His smile dropped.

"No way, I found the lead. I'm coming. You may miss something without my astute sense of observation," he winked.

"You're definitely missing something," she mumbled under her breath, stalking to her cruiser with Castle hot on her heels.

"I heard that," he smirked. "Astute observation, what did I just say, Beckett?" She contemplated using her gun to wipe the grin from his face. Decided it wasn't worth the paperwork. She settled for decidedly ignore him as she started the ignition. The car rumbled to life filling the silence and Beckett carefully pulled away from the curb onto the sleet-ridden street.

"Castle, are you sure you don't want me to drop you at your party?" she sighed as she neared a logical location to do just that.

"Positive, New Yorkers have a tendency to be fashionably late. No one will show up for at least another half an hour. You can drop me off on the way back from running this lead," he conceded.

"I'm going to hold you to that," she muttered sternly. "No getting caught up in whatever we find at this warehouse and blowing off your own event entirely."

"I swear, after we check out this warehouse, I will go home," he nodded. Beckett released a steady breath, happy that they'd at least come to that tenuous conclusion.

Music spilled from the warehouse as they approached. The muted sounds of Christmas carols slipping through the cracks to meet their ears as they drew closer. Well, it was a Christmas factory, there was some merit to the festive music. Still, it had to get incessant actually being in the building. Given the volume from the outside it must have been near deafening levels inside. Castle pressed nearer to her as they reached the door.

"Just don't shot anyone," he murmured in her ear as she jerked the handle and pushed her way inside, gun raised and at the ready.

"Huh?" managed to slip from her lips as she processed Castle's words. The lights flickered to life and Beckett's jaw dropped. She chanced a glance back at Castle to find him beaming, his hand on the light switch.

"Merry Christmas, detective," he enthused, coming to take his place at her side. She pulled her eyes from him and flicked them around the room, drinking it in. It was more than Christmas themed – it was the very incarnation of all things Christmas. She wouldn't have been surprised if an actual ice-skating rink with living penguins lay prostrate and awaiting them at the back of the room.

It wasn't the excessive Christmas spirit of the room that had her struggling to pick her jaw back off the floor, as elaborate, beautiful and utterly overwhelming as it was. Lining the building were each and every one of her – _their_ – loved ones. Esposito flanked by Ryan was directly in her line of sight, wide smiles fixed in place. Although Ryan's eyes clearly declared, "I'm glad you didn't shoot me when you stormed the warehouse," beneath his joyous façade.

Her father stood to the side, an impressive gingerbread man clasped in his hand. He bit down into it, shooting her a lopsided grin. Martha and Alexis bordered him, their smiles infectious. Christmas clear in their vivacious outfits. Lanie raised a tumbler of champagne her way as she caught her eye. Jenny beamed brightly beside her. Beckett drank them all in, her expression still stuck in a careful 'o' of shock, as she fixed her gaze back on Castle. He was still at her side, smiling adoringly at her as she processed her surroundings.

"Huh?" she managed without even the semblance of coherency.

"I told you, it's not a celebration without you, Kate. You weren't even supposed to be on call tonight. I figured a body would drop and you'd skip my party. I orchestrated the whole case, with a little help from Lanie to ensure that you'd make it," he revealed, without his usual flair for dramas, his words spilling out as simple truth.

"You murdered Mrs Clause to get me to come to your party?" she gasped. He didn't even attempt to mask his eyes roll.

"Yes, Beckett, I literally murdered a woman to get you to come to my party," he deadpanned. She continued to stare blankly at him. He sighed. "I set an elaborate fake murder scene with a cadaver to get you to come to my party, yes," he added calmly. "I'm going to wait until you're not in shock to bring up the fact you just conceded that I was indeed right about the Mrs Clause ID," he chuckled cautiously. "Don't be mad."

"I'm not mad. I'm… thank you, Castle. Thank you for bringing the party to me… or me to the party," she giggled. _Giggled_. Castle's heart fluttered a million miles an hour in his chest. "It's sweet," she tacked on as an afterthought.

"Would you like to dance, detective?" he smiled softly, encapsulating her hand gently with his as she nodded in response. Just like that the party was in full swing, enthusiastic conversations starting up in all corners of the room, the focus shifting from the pair in the doorway to general merriment.

Beckett let the room fade away, content to swirl in Castle's arms for innumerable songs. Unwilling to break the spell with conversation and reality. This Christmas wonderland was sacred. A sojourn from mediocrity of day-to-day life. Eventually they tired, Castle refused to relinquish her hand as he dragged her to a dimly lit corner to sip their drinks. She wasn't in a state of mind to fight him on it. He could touch her all that he wanted. In all honesty she wanted it as much as he did. She just had a tendency to lean further towards subtlety in their daily dealings.

"Kate," Castle murmured softly, brushing a loose strand of hair from her cheek, burning a trail of heated arousal in his wake. He nudged her chin up with his fingertips, let her eyes catch on the twig of mistletoe dangling precariously above them. She got it. He was given her a moment for an out if she wanted it. She didn't. She launched forward, latched her lips fiercely with his. He opened his month to her, tongues vying for dominance – both coming out as winners regardless of the result. He tasted like Christmas, rich and decadent. It was an intoxicating combination. Beckett wasn't sure it was worth breaking away for air. Eventually she did, drawing in short, forceful breaths as Castle's lips danced over her face, pressing gentle kisses along the corner of her smile. She brushed a fingertip along his lip, he sucked it carefully into his mouth as she shivered. She tugged it free, tangling her hand in his hair, pulling his lips to hers once again.

Looks like she had a new reason solidifying Christmas as her favourite season.


	3. Chapter 3

"Castle," Beckett ground out through clenched teeth, running her fingers through her hair. The movement did little to detangle the steady build up of icy-slush currently residing on the top of her head. This was the stupidest idea ever. Foolish man. Love him she might, but he was going to be the death of her at this rate. The _much_ too premature death of her. Like within the next twenty minutes. Hyperthermia was fairly instantaneous, right? Granted, she of all people probably had the most experience with which to answer that question… In a sense this was feeling very similar to being trapped in a freezer with Castle. Except, she'd wanted to kill him less the last time. This, this was entirely self-inflicted. If they didn't die out here she was going to punish him. Severely. And not in the way he enjoyed.

Naturally, she kept all this bitterness to herself, trudging begrudgingly in the massive indentations of Castle's shoes in the snow as she followed him through the park.

"Seriously, Castle. Do we really have to do this today? It's so many degrees below freezing it isn't even funny. Do you like me with a nose on my face? Because it's about to drop off?" Okay, so maybe she wasn't exactly doing a stellar job of keeping the bitterness to herself. It was really, _really_ cold. At her words, Castle pivoted, coming to a halt – clearly catching her by surprise as she barrelled stubbornly into the wide planes of his chest.

"Oomphf," he muttered before righting himself, "yes, my dear we have to do this now. Esposito challenged me, _us_. We need to defend our honour, Beckett. You know for a tough as nails detective, you really are whinging a lot!" She levelled him with a deathly glare in response.

"Castle, we could be at home," she opted not the add the rest of her thought – something along the lines or _doing anything other than this like extracting teeth with pliers_. She wasn't in a grumpy mood per se, it was just that slowly turning into a human popsicle had a less than optimistic effect on her demeanour. She couldn't see anyone in their right mind taking to it with too much enthusiasm – like her ridiculous boyfriend was apparently doing. Fool. Fool, fool, fool. See? Clearly not grumpy.

As if the universe was reading her mind and setting out to torture her, the hard ball of snow collided with her back, sending a shiver down her spine. Perfect. Castle whirled her around, placing himself before her as a human shield. Beckett bit back the _you're a little too late, honey_, on the tip of her tongue, settling for an eye roll that went unseen by the man currently mashing a ball of snow together in his gloved hands. He cast a glance at her, locking eyes momentarily, the fervour of childlike excitement painted clearly in his expression. She sighed. Okay, for Castle she could suppress her attitude momentarily, dominate the boys in an all out battle for – what was it Castle had said, oh right – _honour_ and get home to her damn bath.

She tugged Castle backwards to small slope, dropping to her knees behind it, she set about building an arsenal of tightly wound snowballs. He beamed at her, pressing a slopping kiss to her – potentially frostbite ridden – cheek, before rising up and tossing a snowball lopsidedly at the back of Ryan's head. It narrowly missed, Ryan turning with a smug grin.

"You better have hoped Beckett threw that because bro you totally throw like a girl!" he hollered, Esposito reaching out to feed the birds in support of the statement. Castle growled.

"You saying there's something wrong with throwing like a girl?" Beckett hissed, launching a ball of snow precisely at Ryan's now startled face.

"Oooh, you asked for that," Castle crooned, fixing Beckett with a cheek-splitting grin. Esposito patted his partner on the shoulder.

"Totally did ask for that, bro," he smirked. Ryan pouted momentarily before sending spirals of snow tumbling in Beckett and Castle's direction. They dove for cover, crashing haphazardly, a mixture of tangled limbs beneath the relative safety of the slope. Beckett bit back the urge to giggle. She was still mad about this whole potential hypothermia thing, no way was she going to let Castle onto the fact she _was_ starting to enjoy herself just a little bit. Let him sweat – definitely not literally in this weather…

"We need a tactic," she reasoned, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth to chew on gently as she pulled herself from the snow and up onto her haunches. "Divide and conquer?" Castle shook his head fiercely in her direction –

"We're most effective as a team, Beckett. How about conquer and divide?"

"Sure. If you tell me what the hell that means," she shrugged, reaching out a hand to tug him from the snow. She ignored the flush of warmth that spread through her at the truthful tenor to his words – they really did work best as a team, _partners_. Blasted warming, heartfelt words, they were ruining her righteous anger. How utterly unfortunate.

"We need to go at them hard. Prepare an incomprehensionable amount of pre-balled snow and bombard them. They'll make a run for it, probably scurry off in different directions and that's when we really get them. We'll go after them one at a time and totally dominate. Conquer and divide," he finished with a smug, self satisfied grin. Beckett rolled her eyes, but conceded –

"Fine. We'll give it a shot."

"Oh no, Beckett, more than a shot. We will give it our all!" he declared gleefully, already carefully stockpiling snowballs from the ground surrounding them. It was nice to see that Castle had more than enough enthusiasm for the both of them – especially considering that she was less than willing to contribute at that particular moment.

Nonetheless, she threw herself into the pursuit of gathering snow by the handful. Castle yanked the beanie from his head and gestured at her to build their snowball collection within it. They developed a sizable stockpile quickly and gathering it up they plunged into the battle zone.

Turned out Castle's plan to stick together worked rather effectively in Beckett's favour. She stayed behind the line of his body, only darting out to toss the odd retaliatory snowball as they crept forward. Castle, on the other hand, took the barrage of snow that rained down as Ryan and Esposito intercepted their approach.

Beckett had a hard time keeping the smug grin off her face as another flurry of snow connected with Castle's shoulder and missed her completely. Her honour was definitely intact. That much was indisputably clear from the afternoon's proceedings. Beckett snickered at the thought that if they had been playing paintball Castle would resemble a rainbow by now. It greatly helped to assuage the fact that she was put herself at risk of being severely frostbitten with every passing second…

Esposito cursed as Beckett flung a snowball that connected rather solidly with his face. Whoops. Castle apparently saw it as the break they needed. As Esposito clutched at his face, trying to diminish the sting of the combination of cold and impact, Castle assaulted him with a mountain of snow. Ryan attempted to defend his partner, stopping short of jumping in the line of fire. Esposito couldn't take the deluge, backing away behind a line of trees muttering. Castle refocussed his attention on Ryan. Beckett read the fear in their friend's face as she joined her boyfriend in pelting him with snow.

Determination blazed across Ryan's countenance before flashing away as he realised he was outnumbered and unprepared. He threw up his arms in surrender, rushing to Esposito's defensive position to regroup. Beckett spun Castle to face her with a grin.

"Your honour is intact," she murmured, before pulling him in for a tender kiss. Castle shrieked and pulled away.

"Beckett, your lips are _freezing_!" he pressed his gloved fingertips to the place Beckett's mouth had just met his own, eyes wide with shock. "C'mon, I've got to get you home, warm you up."

Beckett fought to internalise the raging barrage of _I told you I was freezing to death out here's_ that raced through her mind, instead settling for the one thing she knew Castle was guaranteed to listen to –

"I've got some ideas about how you could warm me up, Castle," she teased, biting her bottom lip suggestively, her tone rich and sultry. His answering grin was enough to begin to thaw her from the inside out.

**AN: Disclaimer: I've never experienced a snowball fight. Australia, people, **_**Australia**_**! (Where it's currently 37 degrees Celsius at 6pm…) I've seen snow literally all of twice in my entire life. So, if there are any glaring inaccuracies in that regard, I humbly apologise and I will endeavour to have a snowball fight in the future – you know, to improve my writing ;) **


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